Mattress.



No; 779,576. PATENTED JAN. 10, 1905. B. P. BERRY'MAN.

MATTRESS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11. 190s.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES: //v VENTOH W B, I? Berzym an.

UNITED STATES Patented January 10, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. BERRYMAN, OF ELGIN,,ILLINOIS.

MATTRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,576, dated. January 10, 1905.

Application filed September 11,1903. Serial No. 172,765."

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. BERRYMAN, residing at Elgin, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invcntedoertain new and useful Improvements in Mattresses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of mattresses in which air or liquid is used to form a soft pliable body; and in its generic nature the invention comprehends a mattress composed of a covering or casing having suitable compartments and constructed of cloth, ticking, or other fabric and impervious elastic tubing having suitable valve devices for controlling the inlet or outlet of air or liquid to the tubing placed in said compartments to inflate the casing.

The object of my invention is to provide a mattress of this character which, while more particularly designed for application to vehicles or vessels for transportation of passengers, shall be likewise desirably adapted to the requirements of domestic, hospital, and camping uses and which shall embody the advantages of easy and comfortable support, cleanliness, freedom from sanitary. objections, coolness, lightness, &c.

With other objects in view, which will hereinafter be apparent, the invention consists in certain novel combination and structural arrangement of parts, all of which will be first described in detail and then specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals and letters of reference indicate like parts in all'of the figures, and in which? 7 Figure l is a perspective View of the mattress constructed in accordance with, my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken practically on the line 3 3 ofFig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view of aslightly-modified form of my invention. Fig. 5 is a similar view of 'a further modification. Fig. 6 is .a cross-section thereof on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates the casing or frame, which is constructed of cloth, ticking, or other'fa'bric, which is formed with compartments 1 1,

as clearly shown in Fig.2. These compartments II are formed by the longitudinally arranged strips 1", sewed or otherwise secured in a vertical position to the top 1 and bottom 1 faces of the casing 1, and the said strips in the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 run the entire length of the casing. The strips ll and the side walls 1 I serve to form the compartments or chambers 1, into which is placed air or water tight tubes 2, running the entire length of the casing, and the said tubes 2 have check-valves 2 at one end,

through which the tubes may be inflated or deflated when desired.

The ends 1 of the top and bottom portions of the casing are provided with aseries of apertures :11, through which the valvestems of the valves 2 are adapted to pass, andthe said ends overlap each other and the ends 1 of the side portions 1 1 which are also apertured, as at to receive the valve-stems of-the end valve 2. (See Fig. 2.)

In Fig. 4 I have shown a slightly-modified form of my invention in which the side tubes 1 are made shorter than the length of the casing 1, so as to permit of the use of a single length of tubing in the compartments thus formed.

In Fig. 5 I have shown astill further modification of my invention, in which the strips 1 are dispensed with and the top of the fabric made of a piece wider than the bottom, which is then sewed to the bottom at suitable intervals to form the compartments 1, -into which the tubes 2 are placed, and in this form the portion 2 of the fabric forms the walls between each compartment, which will be of double thickness, owing to the manner of securing the top and bottom portions together.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a simple and effective mattress which when inflated or filled with liquid will assume the desired shape.

By varying the size and contour of the mattress it may be used as a buggy-seat, gymnasium-mattress, &c., or when inflated with air it may be made to serveas a life-preserver, as when it is thrown into the water the air in the tubes serves to give it suflicient buoyancy to easily keep it afloat. 1

To protect the valve devices, Ifasten a strip C to the bottom of the mattress, which is then folded up over the end of the mattress and the valves fastened to the top of the mattress by buttons 0, as shown in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is thought the advantages and operation of my invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains. I further desire it understood that slight changes and modifications may be made in the structure of parts without departing from the scope of the appended claims;

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a mattress, a casing comprising top, bottom and side walls, said top, bottom and side walls having overlapping portions at one end, said overlapping portions havinga series of apertures, of a series of parallel-disposed strips secured within the casing to form compartments, tubular members having valve devices arranged in said compartments with their valve-stems projecting through the apertures in the end portions, a flexible strip secured to the bottom wall and adapted to pass over the end wall of the casing and the projecting portions of the valve-stems to form a over therefor and means for securing the free end of the strip to the top wall of the easing for the purposes specified.

2. In a mattress, a casing comprising a flat top and a flat bottom wall and flat side and end. walls, said top, bottom and side walls having overlapping portions at one end adapted to overlap each other, said overlapping portions having a series of alining apertures, a series of parallelly-disposed strips running from one end wall to the other and secured to the casing top and bottom to form a series of parallelly-disposed compartments, flexible tubular members arranged within said compartments, valve devices secured to said tubular member with their stems projecting through the apertures in the overlapping end portions, a supplemental flexible strip fixedly secured to the bottom wall and passing over the end wall of the casing to cover the projecting portions of the valve-stems and the overlapping end walls of the casing, to form a cover therefor, said flexible strips having a plurality of buttonholes, buttons secured to the top wall of the casing near one end for cooperating with said buttonholes of the'flexible strip to secure the free end of the flexible strip to the casing-top, substantially as shown and described.

BENJAMIN F. BERRYMAN.

Witnesses:

MINNIE L. BERRYMAN, CLARA L- AKIN. 

